


The Farm

by RainbowArches



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2018-03-10 14:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3293102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowArches/pseuds/RainbowArches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time away from work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Farm

Natasha couldn’t see herself committing to this. She wasn’t inspired, getting up at dawn to let the chickens cluck and peck at the seeds around her feet, watching the horses graze and eat carrots out of her hand, getting her nails in the dirt. She liked the farm just fine, but there was a reason she never spent more than a few days here if she could help it. If she paid too much attention to the wind in her hair and the hay smell and the horse’s snout under her palm, she felt like she was supposed to want this, and then it lost all appeal. There was nothing romantic about horses or endearing about chickens and the grass made her sneeze. There was none of the peace and quiet that she expected, that she thought she wanted, and she was glad; yet she became restless at the stillness of it all, the seclusion, the _safety_.

It was really more of a safe house, anyway. No one tended this place full time. She gave the horse one last pat and joined Melinda and Maria on the porch. She pulled a lawn chair closer to the citronella candles. She never owned citronella candles before, or lawn chairs, or a porch. The domesticity wasn’t something she minded but it was hard to settle into. It wasn’t permanent, she was reminded, as Melinda and Maria reclined in their chairs, a beer bottle resting on their knee, Maria’s thumb busy on her phone (miraculously conjuring a signal out of nowhere). Nothing was permanent. She’d been going through lives lately like clothes during a growth spurt. Nothing seemed to fit right.

“Anyone else excited to get the hell back to the city?” Maria asked. “This was relaxing for about five minutes.”

“You wouldn’t put your phone down long enough to relax,” Melinda retorted, but her eyes crinkled fondly.

“Problems don’t stop coming up just because I’m not there to deal with them. And it would be so much easier if I were there.”

“You just don’t like the manure,” Natasha teased.

“I can’t even smell it anymore.”

Melinda let the bugs drown them out. There was that crickety buzz that never seemed to leave a farm as the sun was up. Even at night she could hear them through the screen door. It didn’t bother her at all. She could sleep through the humidity and noise of the farm. It was people getting up in the middle of the night and her pager going off that disturbed her.

Contrary to popular belief, Melinda could take a break. She liked farms. She liked sunbathing in shorts and a tank top. She liked petting the cows and horses. She didn’t care about the bugs or the manure or the hair flying around. She wouldn’t have liked it when she was Natasha and Maria’s age, but she’s learned to appreciate a break since then. She didn’t take for granted this opportunity to relax with her friends, to catch her breath. There was plenty of work to do here to keep her busy without endangering her mental health. She liked that she could nurture this place and trust that she was doing it right, that it would still be here when she wanted to come back.

The sky was turning orange and it was beginning to cool down. Maria shivered.

“You cold?” Without waiting for an answer, Natasha got up and flopped into Maria’s lap.

“I can’t see,” she grouched, even as she curled into Natasha’s back.

Natasha grabbed the phone away and put in her pocket. Maria didn’t try to reclaim it, which spoke to how tired she was. If Maria accepted that she was on vacation, it would be within twelve hours of going back to work. If she was lucky, she got a full eight hours of sleep at night and that was her vacation. She didn’t trust anyone to look after themselves long enough her to leave the city limits. They weren’t quite that bad, because here she was, but she probably would have had a panic attack if Natasha had hid her phone yesterday. Maria liked the farm just fine, but she got too anxious about what was happening at work to really notice it.

“You’ll be sad to leave tomorrow,” Melinda said.

“Probably,” Maria agreed.

“Not me,” said Natasha. “I don’t like to stay here too long. It gets quiet.”

“Isn’t that the point?”

“I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

“I like it here,” Melinda said. “I could retire here.”

Maria and Natasha raised their eyebrows at her.

“But I won’t.”

“Good,” said Natasha. “It’s not a retirement farm.”

“Well, not ours, anyway.”


End file.
